One of the greatest actors of all time, Gary Cooper died on this day in 1961 at the young age of 60.

He was nominated five times for an Academy Award, winning twice for the movies "Sergeant York" and for one of the best westerns of all time "High Noon". In 2003, Cooper's perfomances as Will Kane in "High Noon", Lou Gehrig in "The Pride of the Yankees", and Alvin York in "Sergeant York" made the American Film Institute's 100 Years..100 Heroes and Villains list, all of them as heroes.

Cooper was producer David O. Selznick's first choice to play the part of Rhett Butler in the movie "Gone With the Wind".
But Cooper turned it down saying he was against it. He was quoted as saying,"Gone With the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me". Of course we all know that "Gone With the Wind" became one of the biggest films ever.

But with baseball season in full swing, who can forget Gary Cooper's portrayal of Lou Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees".

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